This invention relates generally to crop balers, and specifically to apparatus for controlling the amount of feeder penetration into the bale chamber.
A crop baler is a very complex and important piece of equipment which has become almost an absolute necessity in the economic operation of a modern farm. The complexity of the machine can be appreciated when one observes a skilled operator making the various minor and major adjustments to modify the operational characteristics to suit varying crop conditions. The invention set forth herein is directed to hardware for simplifying one of the mentioned adjustments which must from time to time be made by an operator.
Balers of the type under consideration have a mechanical linkage between the plunger and the feeder mechanism which both transfers power from the plunger to the feeder and maintains a specific desired relative movement between the two. The plunger is powered, through a gearbox and crank, by, usually, the power takeoff of a tractor and moves with a reciprocal motion within the bale case. For purposes of description, it should be understood that a portion of the bale case will be referred to as the "bale chamber." The bale chamber is that section of the bale case wherein the plunger cyclically encounters crop materials to compact them into a bale. The bale chamber has at least a side opening with which the feeder mechanism is aligned. The feeder mechanism, including a multiplicity of depending feeder fingers, moves reciprocably across a feed platform to transport crops deposited thereon into the bale chamber. Most usually, the feeder mechanism includes a carriage which is supported for reciprocable movement along the specified path by a pair of rails which maintain the depending feeder fingers at the desired attitude.
As should be readily understood by one skilled in the art, various crop conditions such as size, moisture content, density etc. affect the formation of bales insofar as they affect even deposition in the bale chamber prior to compaction by the plunger. The relationships between the plunger and feeder mechanism is such tht the feeder mechanism moves the crop material into the bale chamber and moves away therefrom as the plunger moves into the bale chamber on its power stroke. The improved adjustment under consideration here is the amount of penetration of the feeder mechanism, or feeder fingers, into the bale chamber. As pointed out, some drop conditions require deeper penetration than others and, in order to produce well-formed bales, the operator must be able to control this penetration while maintaining acceptable timing relationship between the plunger and the feeder mechanism.
As exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,122,091, prior art balers may be adjusted at the pivot connection between the control linkage and the plunger. While this arrangement has proven to be effective, it has been found to have disadvantages which may make it less desirable than that disclosed herein. Adjustment of the mechanism shown in the above-noted patent requires the use of a multiplicity of wrenches--items which may not be readily available in the field. Also, the adjustable pivot connection on the plunger is not readily accessible within the bale case, and thus is not easily regulated.
Another arrangement used heretofore to adjust penetration is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,115,823. To vary the amount of finger projection into the bale chamber, the feeder carriage is constructed to be extendable and retractable. The problem with this structure is that when the carriage is extended to increase the penetration of the feeder fingers into the bale chamber, the length of the carriage stroke over the platform is correspondingly decreased whereby somewhat less material is picked up on each working stroke of the feeder.